


What's in a name

by StrangeNoise



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Deviancy (Detroit: Become Human), Falling In Love, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Perkins redemption arc of sorts, Strangers to Friends, choosing a name
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28668057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeNoise/pseuds/StrangeNoise
Summary: After everyone turns on him for what he did at Hart Plaza, agent Richard Perkins is not too thrilled when an android prototype found after the dismantling of Cyberlife is placed in his care. Little does he know that this is the beginning of something big...5+1: 5 glimpses into the life of Perkins and the android before RK900 chooses a name for himself and 1 when he finally does
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Richard Perkins
Kudos: 6
Collections: DBHSecretSanta2020





	What's in a name

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the DBHSecretSanta2020 on twitter/tumblr! I hope everyone enjoys and especially my giftee :D  
> Saw that ship in the lists of things you would like to read and just had to jump on it :D I hope I portrayed Perkins the way you wanted him to be and he didn't come off too mean at the start. He's just not happy everyone started blaming him for everything that went wrong during the revolution...
> 
> Have fun reading, guys!

1

„Whatever will I do with you now”, Perkins muttered and looked at the android in front of him. The machine looked back at him through icy blue eyes.   
  
“Even if I was born deviant, agent Perkins, I’m willing to help you with your work”, the android said, its voice cold and with no inflection that made the way it spoke sound human, “I might not follow every order, but you can still rely on me.”   
  
“Now that’s just wonderful”, Perkins sighed and dropped down into the chair behind his desk, burying his face in his hands. He was 99% sure that this was some punishment – either divine or from some higher-up – for what he did at Hart Plaza and it wasn’t fair. All he’d done was follow orders. Then, suddenly, everyone around him had changed their minds and decided to accept the androids as humans. And then someone must have decided that they needed a scapegoat and that burden had fallen on Perkins. From one minute to the other Perkins had been declared all but a rogue agent acting on his own misguided hatred for the machines.   
  
Then, just a week after the events at Hart Plaza, Cyberlife tower had been raided and a new prototype of android had been found. Since Cyberlife had lost control of its creations, the android had been “born” deviant and someone – for whatever reason – decided that Perkins was to take care of him. Whether it was to humiliate him further or to give him some kind of chance at redeeming himself, Perkins didn’t know, and he wasn’t sure he cared either. But he was willing to take this chance if only people would finally leave him alone.   
  
“Fine”, he said after a few minutes of silence, “I don’t have any work for you right now, but you can grab that chair in the corner and sit here with me if you have nothing better to do.”   
  
“Why would I have anything to do?”, the android wondered as it obediently crossed the room and returned with the chair. It looked far too stiff as it sat down but Perkins decided not to comment on that. Instead, he ignored the android altogether, burying himself in his work.  
  
A few minutes later he received an e-mail, asking him and his new assistant to join a security briefing. Perkins went to answer but stopped in his tracks when he realized he had no idea if the android opposite him even had a name.   
  
“They’re asking about you”, he told it, gesturing towards his terminal, “Do you have a name? I can’t really answer them if I don’t know…”  
  
“Currently I have no name”, the android answered, “But I could choose one if you want me to.”  
  
“Aren’t you a deviant?”, Perkins huffed, “Shouldn’t you want things for yourself?”  
  
“I haven’t been active for long”, the android said calmly, “So I haven’t really decided what I want or don’t want yet.”   
  
“Fine”, Perkins sighed, burying his face in his hands for another few moments, “Is there anything you want me to call you then?”   
  
“My model number is fine for now”, the android stated, “It’s RK900.”   
  
Perkins raised a brow at that but didn’t say anything. It sounded weird at first, sure, but he had nieces with stranger names. And he was not about to ruin his chances at redeeming himself by making fun of the android’s name.  
  
“RK900 then”, he said and forced a smile onto his face. In return, he received something that was probably supposed to be a smile but was more of a grimace.  
  


2  
  
“So, how’s deviancy so far?”, Perkins asked. The question came from a place that was equal parts curiosity and boredom. RK900 and he had been sent to investigate outside of Detroit and gotten into rush hour on the way back. For the past half hour, they had been stuck in traffic with only the radio playing quietly in the self-driving cab.   
  
“To be honest, I don’t really know what to make of it”, RK900 answered, looking straight ahead, “I didn’t really have any expectations at first because I wasn’t around other androids too much. But then they all started talking about their grand plans and what they want to do now that they’re free and I cannot relate to that at all.”  
  
“How come?”, Perkins wondered, “I thought you guys were all excited to do all the things you weren’t allowed to do before.”  
  
“Many other androids are”, RK900 said, still not looking at Perkins, “But I’m not. Not really, I think. And I don’t know why.”  
  
“Maybe because you were activated after the revolution”, Perkins suggested, “You were always free to do whatever you wanted to do so maybe it just feels natural to you.”  
  
“You could be right”, RK900 replied thoughtfully and finally turned to look at the agent, “But I thought that after a while I would come up with something, I wanted to do…”  
  
“It’s only been two months since you guys got rights”, Perkins argued, “I guess it takes a while to figure out what you want.”  
  
“Maybe”, RK900 sighed and then was quiet for a bit. 

“Did you at least choose a name yet?”, Perkins wanted to know after several more minutes of semi-uncomfortable silence.  
  
“Not yet”, RK900 said, “There are just too many to choose from…”

“I’m sure you’ll find something you like”, Perkins said, sort of meaning both in terms of names and things to do now that the android was a deviant. He didn’t even know where his comment came from, but he didn’t think too much of it either. In the end, he was just trying to be nice to someone he spent a lot of time with.   
  
In return, RK900 looked at him with a smile that wasn’t as strained as the one had been it had shown on the day they first met.  
  


3  
  
“I picked up a hobby.”  
  
Perkins looked up from the forms he was currently working on and raised a brow. It was Monday morning and RK900 had just entered his office. There was something about the android that the agent had never seen before and it took him a moment to realize that the brunet was excited. RK900 usually didn’t show a lot of emotion – or at least much less than the androids Perkins met elsewhere in Detroit – so it was kind of strange to see the android like this. But it was nice to see, Perkins thought, to see RK900 finally growing into his own. Maybe it would make him easier to work with, Perkins figured, realizing only belatedly that he started referring to the android as ‘he’ instead of ‘it’ as he had previously done. It felt right, though, so he decided to stick to it.  
  
“And what is it?”, he wondered, sitting down in his chair, and waiting for RK900 to sit down on the other side of the desk. The agent vaguely remembered talking about hobbies and if the android wouldn’t like one at the end of the last week, but he hadn’t expected RK900 to find something he enjoyed so quickly.   
  
“I started knitting”, the android announced and there was a tone of pride in his voice as he held his hand out to Perkins and the picture of a black and white striped scarf appeared in front of their eyes, “I made this scarf over the weekend and it was very relaxing. Knitting is a very monotone, manual task, so I can do it while my processors are occupied with other things. It is very relaxing to focus on two different tasks, I have found. My processors run at a higher capacity like this and I don’t constantly feel like I’m underperforming.”   
  
“Sounds like a great hobby to me”, Perkins commented, unable to help a smile from spreading all over his face. RK900’s story reminded him of the times when he would spend the winter holidays at his grandmother’s house with his mother and the two women would watch tv drama after tv drama in the living room as they knitted new scarves and sweaters for the whole family. They had always seemed very happy and content then and Perkins figured that RK900 deserved some of that happiness too.  
  
“Well, now that you have a hobby, we just need to find you a name”, Perkins said, and the android’s face fell a little. If the agent didn’t think it was outright impossible for the android to blush, he would say the brunet was blushing right now.   
  
“I’m working on it, agent Perkins”, RK900 sighed, “There are just too many names to choose from. I have tried narrowing it down to maybe twenty names I like but that is still a lot.”  
  
“You’ll find one you like, I’m sure”, Perkins said and did his best to smile reassuringly, “Just tell me when you do. Or when you just want to try a name.”  
  
“I will”, RK900 promised, smiling softly, “Thank you, agent.”   
  


4  
  
“You’re still here?”  
  
Perkins raised a brow as he entered his office to find RK900 sitting at his desk just like he had left him two hours ago. Their workday had ended around that time and the only reason Perkins was back at this hour was that he had forgotten his wallet on his desk, and he didn’t feel safe leaving it there overnight.   
  
“I stay in the office almost every night”, the android said as if it was the most normal thing in the world, “I don’t have a place of my own.”  
  
“Are you for real?!”, Perkins exclaimed, completely taken aback by this revelation, “You just sit in my office all night and knit stuff?”  
  
“No, I do the knitting at a nearby android community center I occasionally sleep at. They don’t always have vacancies, though, so most of the time I stay here”, RK900 explained calmly, “I rented a locker at the center, where I keep my knitting supplies and finished projects. It is getting rather full, though, so I might have to rent another.”  
  
“No way”, Perkins said firmly. Anger and embarrassment washed over him at the thought that his colleague was staying in their office all night, sleeping in the uncomfortable chair or, possibly, on the floor and he had never known. It was beyond the agent now how he had always simply assumed that RK900 would have a home and never asked about where the android lived. Over the past months, Perkins and RK900 had gotten to know each other better, as they spent their workdays together and the agent felt like there was a friendship developing between them – something he would have never thought possible just months ago. But feeling like RK900 was his friend made the thought of him sleeping in the office even worse.  
  
“You’re coming home with me”, the agent decided on a whim. His couch was not too comfortable to sleep on either, but it had to be better than this arrangement.  
  
“Are you serious?”, RK900 asked, looking uncertain and confused, “Please don’t offer this because you feel obligated to.”  
  
“I’m offering this because you’re my colleague and my friend and I don’t allow friends to sleep on the office floor when I have a perfectly good couch back at my place”, Perkins said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, “Now let’s get your stuff and get you somewhere more comfortable to sleep.”   
  
The agent saw the android blushing again as he said they were friends, but he did not question it. Thankfully, RK900 didn’t argue further. He followed Perkins to his car and navigated him to the community center, where they picked up his knitting projects. With the entire backseat covered in scarves and sweaters, they then drove to Perkins’ flat. The agent gave the android pillows and a blanket, even though the brunet said he didn’t need it and they said their goodnights.   
  
As he curled up in his own bed, Perkins felt an almost ridiculous amount of happiness knowing he had helped a friend.  
  
  


5

“You’re home late, agent”, RK900 said as Perkins entered the flat one evening in early September.   
  
“I told you to call me Richard when we’re not at work”, Perkins replied as he took off his shoes and jacket, then made his way to the living room.  
  
“I’m sorry, Richard”, the android said and put down his needles for a moment, “I kept your dinner warm in the oven.”   
  
Perkins nodded and trotted into the next room to grab something to eat. It had been almost five months since RK900 first slept on his couch and the android was still around. For the first few weeks, both of them had searched for living quarters for RK900 together. But soon, they had figured that they both quite liked the arrangement they had now. It was nice not to be alone in a flat all the time, so they became roommates. Perkins refused any rent payments from RK900 as the android slept on the couch, did not need food, and only used the shower or washing machine when he or his clothes got extremely dirty at work. In return, the android kept the flat clean and would either cook or order food for Perkins. It was a nice little arrangement and Perkins enjoyed the domesticity of it greatly.   
  
A few minutes later, the agent returned to the couch with a plate full of pasta alfredo and thanked the android for the dinner. RK900 smiled and turned on the tv so they could watch some old cop drama while Perkins ate, and the android knitted.  
  
Not for the first time, Perkins thought about how he’d like to have this forever and his stomach fluttered at the thought. And then it became even worse when he looked at RK900, wondering if the android would want to live with him for a while longer, too. It wasn’t the first time this happened and like every time, Perkins quickly turned away and focused on his food. To him, it was almost ridiculous how he and the android had gone from strangers to friends in only ten months. Perkins had learned a lot about androids during that time and at times he felt bad for his earlier beliefs. But he was doing his best to change and, finally, people around him were starting to see that too.  
  
But the feelings he felt growing inside him whenever he was around RK900 or even looked at him still took him by surprise. Perkins couldn’t remember being in love with anyone for a long time. 

For the moment, however, he decided to ignore those feelings. He had no way of knowing if RK900 felt like he did or even felt this deeply at all. So, for now, Perkins decided to yearn from afar and hope for a sign from the android one day.

  
  
+1  
  
“I finally found a name”, RK900 said suddenly one Sunday afternoon as they were watching tv together.  
  
“That’s amazing”, Perkins replied, immediately turning to the android, excited to hear what name he had chosen for himself after all these months, “Let’s hear it!”  
  
RK900 blushed once again – still a rare sight even after months of living together, then said: “You can say no if you don’t want me to use that name…”  
  
He looked Perkins in the eyes, then said: “I want my name to be Richard. I chose it because it’s your name and you gave me a chance, a job, and a home when you didn’t even know me. You helped me learn about myself and you’re the first friend I ever had. I like your name and I thought I could honor you and our friendship if I chose it as my own first name.”   
  
Perkins stared at the android for several long moments, overwhelmed by the flood of emotions crashing down on him at that moment. His heart felt like it was going to explode right out of his chest with all those feelings inside it. And before he knew it, Perkins moved forward and pressed his lips to the android’s. The brunet froze for a second, then kissed the agent back hesitantly. It was obvious he had never done this before, but Richard was eager to learn and Perkins was happy to teach him – if the android let him.  
Their kiss ended only moments after it began and Perkins and Richard looked at each other, unsure of what to say.   
  
“I’m sorry if I was being too forward just now”, Perkins said after a moment, “I’m honored that you would choose my first name as yours. It suits you perfectly. And I’ve had feelings for you for a long time now…that’s why I kissed you.”   
  
“I’m glad you kissed me”, Richard said, a shy smile spreading on his face, “I think I’ve had the same feelings, but I didn’t really know what they were or what to do about it. So, I’m happy you did this for both of us. And I’d like to do this more.”  
  
“Me too”, Perkins agreed, laughing a little because he was just so overwhelmed with emotion, “I’m so happy you feel the same way. You listed all these things I’ve done for you, but you helped me, too. I haven’t been this happy in a while and it’s all thanks to you.”  
  
More careful this time, Perkins pulled the android in for another kiss and Richard went eagerly.   
  
For the remainder of the day, it was just the two of them on the couch, wrapped up in their own little cocoon of emotion, and kissing occasionally. Perkins had never been happier. The last year had changed both him and Richard and he was glad for every step of the way because it had brought them to where they were now: Together, in love, and happy.


End file.
